(en) WSM.ie: Dare to struggle, Dare to win! A conversation with IWW Sydney -audio

A Irish emigrant to Australia and WSM supporter gives his story about working on building 
sites, unions and audio conversation with IWW. - The Industrial Workers of the World from 
the Americas to Australasia have historically formed the bedrock of a radical 
revolutionary tendency in the labour movement, fanning the flames of class war fighting 
for a radical union where power resides in at its base asserting the need to abolish wage 
slavery where workers take full control over their labour. ---- From its inception in 
Chicago in 1905 anarchists along with many other left currents or none were naturally 
attracted to its ranks as the battle lines between labour and capital were unravelled; 
fighting for a new world in the shell of the old.

Arriving in Australia I soon joined the ?Wobblies? as I found it best suited my needs 
rather than the mainstream unions. From working in casual employment in the construction 
industry involving every form of work from unskilled labouring, to ?lashing? to working on 
the docks where I could be in three different building sites in one week.

Although union sites offer much better wages and conditions, they have little interest in 
organising the rest of us who find ourselves in low skilled and precarias employment. ' 
Solidarity Unionism? is more appealing and a contemporary articulation of Wobbly 
principles of organising on the job instead of reliance of paid union organisers where the 
initiative and power resides in the rank and file.

?Solidarity Unionism is labour organising in its most basic, most powerful form. 
Deemphaising or avoiding government certification altogether, a solidarity union is simply 
a group of workers who come togther, support each other other?s development as leaders, 
and carry out their own direct action campaigns around issues of concern at work such as 
unsafe speed lines, poverty wages, and abusive management.?(1)

As the labour movement and capitalism creates a growing permanent casualised workforce we 
need to examine past struggles not only for inspiration but to meet the challenges we face 
today. Unlike the old yellow union model where once you leave your job you lose a member, 
the Wobbly model of remaining a member when you change job is much more suitable to the 
labour market today. This weakness of casual employment can be turned into source of 
strength by spreading ideas and organising models.

Over a 100,000 mainly young people left Ireland last year with many of them arriving in 
Australia forming another generation as about 1/3 of, Australians already claim Irish 
ancestry. While for many the desire of finding a high paid job in the ?resources boom ? in 
mining became a reality. For many others working in conditions of 12 hour days for 4 
weeks on, 1 week off is a short term fix of an industry highly dependent of the Chinese 
economy. While the experience of nice beaches and good lifestyle has been hugely positive 
and furfilling the reality of working in low paid, casual employment for many migrant 
workers with little rights and no access to social security is often swept under the carpet.

In one particular case covered in the Australian Irish Echo, one Irish backpacker was so 
scared during her 3 month?s regional work to obtain her second year visa she slept with a 
knife under her bed under threat from the male owner of the cattle farm. After fleeing 
from the farm, Jessica Riley, 24, told the Irish Echo, ?There?s not even a safety net out 
there for backpackers. We have no rights out there to say we cant be exploited.?(2)

http://www.mixcloud.com/workerssolidarity/interview-with-the-iww-in-sydney-about-the-iww-aboriginal-land-struggles-sydney-university-strike/